1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a four legged walker that has a cane holder for easy retrieval by the user as well as castors that do not catch on objects that the castors pass such objects whenever a user is walking with the walker.
2. Background of the Prior Art
Walkers are used by persons who, either due to injury or age, lack full ambulatory ability without some form of assistance, yet who do not require the more restrictive confines of a wheelchair or wheel scooter. Typically, a walker consists of a pair of generally upright U-shaped frames members that are joined together by one or more crossbars that connect the front legs of each frame member to form a generally U-shaped structure when viewed from above. A user stands within the U-shaped structure and grasps the tops of each frame member and uses the walker to aid in walking, typically taking a step by resting a portion of the user's weight on the walker, advancing the walker some distance, and thereafter taking another step, and repeating this process. The walker givers the user a greater sense of mobility than can be achieved by walking independently (which some users simply cannot accomplish) or by the use of a cane alone, which although giving some support to a user, fails to give the substantial support of a walker than envelopes a user on three sides when the walker is being used and allows the user to rest a substantial portion of the user's body weight onto the walker during use.
Some walkers come equipped with castors, either on the front legs of each frame member or on all legs of the walker. The castors allow a user to roll the walker ahead between steps instead of having to lift and advance the walker between steps. Many users find the castor-based walkers to be a substantial improvement over non-castor-based walkers. One problem associated with such castor-based walkers is that the castors, which are positioned on the outside of the front legs, tend to catch on various items, such as walls, corners, doors, etc., as the walker, being handled by the user, passes such items. This catching of the castors onto such items not only causes instability to the user, which can cause a user to fall, but such catching also scuffs or dings the various surfaces impacted by the castors.
In order to combat this problem, walkers have been proposed wherein the castors are positioned on the inside of each front leg (the castors facing each other as opposing to facing away from each other when the castors are on the outside of each leg) so as to prevent the castor from unwantingly bumping surfaces. In such a design, the castor is positioned on the inside of a leg and an appropriate axial bolt is passed through the castor and through the front leg and is capped by an appropriate nut on the other side. However, this nut, and any excess bolt length that extends beyond the nut can also catch and snag on various items, oftentimes causing more instability to the user as well as more damage than if the castor were located on the outside of the leg of the walker.
An additional shortcoming found in modern day walkers concerns the use by such walkers by people who are generally ambulatory, but use the walker for added aid and support for routine walking. Such walker users comprise a large percentage of walker users. Typically, such users can get by with the use of a simple cane for many walking tasks. Such people use the walker for major travel, for example, walking about a shopping mall, but desire to switch to a less restrictive cane when going to a particular store within the mall, as the cane gives them more maneuverability within the store. The problem with this arrangement is that in using the walker for general ambulatory progression, both of the user's hands are dedicated to maneuvering the walker. The user lacks the ability to effectively grip a cane while maintaining appropriate control of the walker. Such a user is forced to improvise such as by strapping the cane to the user's back or carrying the cane underarm. While such improvisations may achieve the desired goal of carrying a cane while using a walker, such improvisations tend to be awkward for the user to implement, not only in donning the cane for transport, but also in retrieving the cane whenever the user wants to switch from walker to cane, they tend to be somewhat uncomfortable, and they leave many users self-conscious when carrying the cane while at the same time using the walker for ambulatory assistance.
Therefore, there exists a need in the art for a ambulatory walker that overcomes the about-stated shortcomings in the art. Specifically, such a walker must provide the user with a leg-based castors which castors and their attendant attachment systems tend not to catch or otherwise snag on surfaces with which castors come into close proximity so that the user is not destabilized while using the walker and so that such surfaces are not damaged by the use of the walker. Additionally, such a walker must allow for efficient transport of a cane for use by the user in order to allow the user to quickly switch from use of the walker to the cane and back again wherein the transport of the cane is relatively simple and straightforward so that the user can quickly don as well as retrieve the cane without undue hassle. Such transport of the cane must not be uncomfortable to the user and should not make the user self-conscious about carrying a cane while using the walker.